When Jay opened his eyes, he found himself in a room. The ceiling above him was carved with ice and light. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was, only that everything hurt.
He pushed himself up, wincing as dull pain coursed through his limbs.
Jay stood and walked toward the door. When he stepped outside, the scenery changed to a wide courtyard surrounded by towering pillars of ice. There, Lina was training, sweat dripping down her face as she slashed through moving wooden statues.
"Lina?" Jay called weakly.
Lina turned instantly. "Jay! You're awake!" She ran to him in relief. "Are you alright? You've been out for almost a day!"
Jay nodded slowly, rubbing his temple. "Yeah…I think so. What happened after…the fight?"
Before Lina could answer, a deep voice came from behind them. "You entered into a trance after I knocked you out," Bruce said, stepping into view. "You fought on pure instinct for a few moments, then collapsed. I carried you back here."
Jay's eyes widened as memories flooded back. "Right…our fight…"
Bruce folded his arms. "You asked me to train you, didn't you?"
Jay blinked, surprised. "You'll really do it?"
"Yes," Bruce replied. "But you must understand something first. Once we begin, there will be no turning back. We won't stop until your body and mind are tempered like steel. Pain will be constant. Weakness will not be tolerated. You'll either adapt…or die."
Jay clenched his fists. "I understand."
Bruce's lips curved into the faintest smile. "Good. Then let's begin with understanding your own body." He gestured toward him. "During our little quarrel, you were unconscious yet still fought. Do you know what that means?"
Jay frowned. "I think…it happened before. When I was about to die once, my body moved on its own. I could dodge things I shouldn't have been able to. But afterward, I couldn't remember myself doing it and couldn't replicate it by myself."
Bruce nodded. "That's what we call Sixth Sense. It's an extremely rare state that lets one fight purely on instinct. You've been blessed with it. Not only that, your body is what we call a Perfect Weapon. Unlike ordinary humans, your body adapts and evolves unnaturally fast whenever you fight. Every cell learns. Every wound strengthens you. Your body has the predisposition and innate potential to master all aspects of physical power, including speed, strength, endurance, technique."
Jay listened in silence.
"The first thing I noticed when I struck you was your endurance", Bruce continued. "Its something your body is already amazing at. So that's where we'll start. You'll learn to withstand pain. From this moment, every strike you take will forge you further."
Jay straightened his back. "I'm ready!"
Bruce's aura flared faintly. "We'll see."
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Meanwhile, far from the icy temple, a calm wind carried dust across a vast plain. Yumina and Alice walked side by side.
"According to the map Jay showed me before, this city must be Ashford," Yumina said, pointing to the stone walls rising ahead. "The closest city to Eldara."
They reached the city gates before long. Merchants called out to customers, children darted between carts, and the smell of roasted meat filled the air. Alice's eyes sparkled as she pointed to a passing man with wolf-like ears and a tail. "Yumina! What are they?"
"Ah, those? They're, uh…people who are half-beast and half-human, I think. They call them demihumans," Yumina replied, rubbing her neck. Then she sighed quietly. "We really did get isekai'd into a cliché fantasy world, huh?"
Alice tilted her head. "Ise-what?"
"Never mind," Yumina muttered, grinning. Then, under her breath, "Does that mean I'll get a harem eventually?"
Alice blinked. "What's a harem?"
"Nothing you need to worry about," Yumina said quickly.
As they walked, a loud commotion drew their attention. A crowd had gathered near a store. A man in a high-school uniform, clearly out of place, was shouting and kicking a woman who lay on the ground.
"How dare you spill all my treasures!" he yelled.
The bystanders muttered but didn't intervene.
"What's going on?" someone asked.
"I entrusted her to carry my coins," the man snapped, gesturing to the enormous sack beside the woman. "And she dropped them! If someone steals even one, she'll pay dearly!"
Everyone could see that the sack of coins the woman carried was needslessly big and too heavy for the woman. It was unreasonable for the woman to keep holding it. The surrounding inhabitants of the city found this distasteful, but most of them didn't have any powers and they knew that guy was an adventurer so it was not worth the problem.
Yumina frowned after looking at the troublemaker. [That uniform…he's not from this world either].
Then she stepped forward. "Looks like I found another jerk with no manners."
The man froze, turning toward her. "Who said that?"
"I did!" Yumina said proudly, pointing at herself.
His eyes narrowed. "And who the hell are you? Get lost before I lose my patience."
"Who am I?" Yumina smirked. "A mere side character like you couldn't comprehend the greatness of a protagonist. Now move before I lose my patience."
The man's face twisted with anger. "You!" he shouted, summoning a massive stone golem that rose behind him, towering six meters high.
"Wow," Yumina said, pretending to be impressed.
"Hahaha! My name is Kai, and I'm a golem summoner! My creations are immune to magic and strong enough to crush mountains into powder!"
"Immune to magic, huh? That's…pretty broken in this world isn't it?" Yumina muttered, scratching her chin.
"It's too late for regrets! Golem, attack!"
The creature charged, its massive fist descended like a hammer on Yumina
Yumina barely moved, just raised her finger and flicked the air.
A shockwave erupted. The golem split cleanly in half, shattering like glass.
Kai froze, eyes wide. "W–what… what did you just…?"
"I merely turned the opposite reaction of Newton's Third Law into zero," Yumina said matter-of-factly. "So even a flick of my finger was enough to destroy your toy, since its resistance became zero."
Previously, Yumina was able to instantly kill people just by willing it, but what actually occured was something much more complex. In those instances, she simply turned their lives to "zero".
To turn anything she wishes into "zero", that is the true nature of power.
Kai's jaw dropped. "B-but my golems are immune to magic..."
"Too bad," Yumina interrupted, picking up a rock. "I didn't use magic. I used…science!"
She threw the rock lazily. Kai screamed and summoned layers of barriers, five, ten, fifteen, but the rock pierced through all of them effortlessly as if they were made of butter, and then penetrated his shoulder.
He howled in pain, clutching the bloodied wound. "You bitch! Do you know who you're messing with? If you hurt me, Damon Bowers will burn you and this city to the ground!"
At that name, Yumina's smirk vanished for a moment.
"Damon Bowers…so you're with him," she said with a cold tone.
Then her grin returned. "Looks like my day just got interesting."